The Murder Of Dr. David
Kelly
Part One of Two Medium Rare By Jim Rarey 10-14-3
=(This first part lays out the case from the evidence presented
in the Hutton inquiry why the death of Dr. David Kelly was
not by suicide. Part two will show the reasons, in this
writerâs opinion, Dr. Kelly was killed.)
On Thursday, July 17th sometime between 3 and 3:30pm, Dr.
David Kelly started out on his usual afternoon walk. About
18 hours later, searchers found his body, left wrist slit,
in a secluded lane on Harrowdown Hill. Kelly, the UK's premier
microbiologist, was in the center of a political maelstrom
having been identified as the 'leak' in information about
the 'dossier' Prime Minister Tony Blair had used to justify
the war against Iraq.
While the Hutton inquiry appears set to declare Kelly's
death a suicide and the national media are already treating
it as a given, there are numerous red flags raised in the
testimony and evidence at the inquiry itself.
Kelly's body was likely moved from where he died to the
site where two search volunteers with a search dog found
it. The body was propped up against a tree according to
the testimony of both volunteers. The volunteers reported
the find to police headquarters, Thames Valley Police (TVP)
and then left the scene. On their way back to their car,
they met three 'police' officers, one of them named Detective
Constable Graham Peter Coe.
Coe and his men were alone at the site for 25-30 minutes
before the first police actually assigned to search the
area arrived (Police Constables Sawyer and Franklin) and
took charge of the scene from Coe. They found the body flat
on its back a short distance from the tree, as did all subsequent
witnesses.
A logical explanation is that Dr. Kelly died at a different
site and the body was transported to the place it was found.
This is buttressed by the medical findings of livor mortis
(post mortem lividity), which indicates that Kelly died
on his back, or at least was moved to that position shortly
after his death. Propping the body against the tree was
a mistake that had to be rectified.
The search dog and its handler must have interrupted whoever
was assigned to go back and move the body to its back before
it was done. After the volunteers left the scene the body
was moved to its back while DC Coe was at the scene.
Five witnesses said in their testimony that two men accompanied
Coe. Yet, in his testimony, Coe maintained there was only
one other beside himself. He was not questioned about the
discrepancy.
Researchers, including this writer, assume the presence
of the 'third man' could not be satisfactorily explained
and so was being denied.
Additionally, Coe's explanation of why he was in the area
is unsubstantiated. To the contrary, when PC Franklin was
asked if Coe was part of the search team he responded, 'No.
He was at the scene. I had no idea what he was doing there
or why he was there. He was just at the scene when PC Sawyer
and I arrived.'
Franklin was responsible for coordinating the search with
the chief investigating officer and then turning it over
to Sawyer to assemble the search team and take them to the
assigned area. They were just starting to leave the station
(about 9am on the 18th) to be the first search team on the
ground (excepting the volunteers with the search dog) when
they got word the body had been found.
A second red flag is the nature of the wounds on Kelly's
wrist. Dr. Nicholas Hunt, who performed the autopsy, testified
there were several superficial 'scratches' or cuts on the
wrist and one deep wound that severed the ulnar artery but
not the radial artery.
The fact that the ulnar artery was severed, but not the
radial artery, strongly suggests that the knife wound was
inflicted drawing the blade from the inside of the wrist
(the little finger side closest to the body) to the outside
where the radial artery is located much closer to the surface
of the skin than is the ulnar artery. For those familiar
with first aid, the radial artery is the one used to determine
the pulse rate.
Just hold your left arm out with the palm up and see how
difficult it would be to slash across the wrist avoiding
the radial artery while severing the ulnar artery. However,
a second person situated to the left of Kelly who held or
picked up the arm and slashed across the wrist would start
on the inside of the wrist severing the ulnar artery first.
A reasonably competent medical examiner or forensic pathologist
would certainly be able to determine in which direction
the knife was drawn across the wrist. That question was
never asked nor the answer volunteered. In fact, a complete
autopsy report would state in which direction the wounds
were inflicted. The coronerâs inquest was never completed
as it was preempted by the Hutton inquiry and the autopsy
report will not be made public. Neither will the toxicology
report.
Two paramedics who arrived by ambulance at the same time
as Franklin and Sawyer (some time after 9am) and accompanied
them to where the body was located. After checking the eyes
and signs of a pulse or breathing, they attached four electro-cardiogram
pads to Kelly's chest and hooked them up to a portable electro-cardiograph.
When no signs of heart activity were found they unofficially
confirmed death. One paramedic (Vanessa Hunt) said the Police
asked them to leave the pads on the body. The other paramedic
(David Bartlett) said they always left the pads on the body.
Both paramedics testified that DC Coe had two men with
him. Curiously, both also volunteered that there was a surprisingly
small amount of blood at the scene for an artery having
been severed.
When the forensic pathologist (Dr. Nicholas Hunt) who performed
the autopsy testified, he described copious amounts of blood
at the scene. He also described scratches and bruises that
Kelly 'stumbling around' in the heavy underbrush may have
caused. He said there was no indication of a struggle or
Kelly having been forcibly restrained.
However, the police made an extensive search of the area
and found no indication of anyone, including Kelly, having
been in the heavy underbrush.
Strangely, none of the witnesses mentioned anything about
rigor mortis (stiffening of the body) which is useful in
setting the approximate time of death. Even Dr. Hunt, when
was asked directly what changes on the body he observed
that would have happened after death, failed to mention
rigor mortis. He only named livor mortis. Hunt set the time
of death within a range of 4:15pm on the 17th to 1:15am
the next morning. He based the estimate on body temperature
which he did not take until 7:15pm on the 19th, some seven
hours after he arrived on the scene.
A forensic biologist (Roy James Green) had been asked to
examine the scene. He said the amount of blood he saw was
consistent with a severed artery. Green works for the same
private company (Forensic Alliance) as Dr. Hunt. A majority
of the company's work is done for police organizations.
The afternoon of the 18th DC Coe turned up at the Kelly
residence accompanied by a man identified only as 'an attachment,'
who acted as an 'exhibits officer' presumably collecting
documents in behalf of some other government agency.
Detective Constable Coe and those accompanying him are
somewhat of a mystery. There are no corroborating witnesses
to any of his actions to which he testified (other than
'just being there' at the scene where the body was found).
However, on a listing of evidence provided to the Hutton
inquiry by Thames Valley Police is a reference to a document
described thusly, 'TVP Tactical Support Major Incident Policy
Book·Between 1430 17.07.03 and 930 18.07.03. DCI
Alan Young. It is labeled ãnot for release - Police
operational information.' Many of the exhibits are labeled
that way or are not to be released as personal information.
The police took over 300 statements from witnesses but
less than 70 were forwarded to the Hutton inquiry. Witness
statements were not to be released (even to the inquiry)
unless the witness signed an authorization permitting it.
TVP also withheld witness interviews they did not consider
'relevant' to the inquiry. Witnesses were not put under
oath so it is impossible for the public to know if their
public statements are at variance with what they told police.
The 'tactical support' document must have been considered
relevant to the inquiry on Kelly's death or it wouldn't
have been forwarded.
So this 'tactical support' began at 2:30pm on the 17th,
about one hour before Dr. Kelly left the house on his final
walk. It ended at 9:30am the following morning about the
time DC Coe and his men left the death scene. The obvious
question is, to what was TVP giving tactical support? The
name given the effort was 'Operation Mason.'
(In part two of this report, we will lay out some of the
reasons (that you won't see in the national media) Dr. Kelly
could not be allowed to live.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed
a prior interest in receiving the included information for
research and educational purposes.)
Permission is granted to reproduce this article in its entirety.
The author is a freelance writer
based in Romulus, Michigan. He is a former newspaper editor
and investigative reporter, a retired customs administrator
and accountant, and a student of history and the U.S. Constitution.
If you would like to receive Medium Rare articles directly,
please contact the author at [email protected]
|